It is good to be together for another hour this evening. In our meditations this morning we were considering something with respect to a flood—it’s still raining, incidentally—but a different kind of flood. What a very beautiful story it is contained in the 6th chapter of Genesis concerning what is called the flood, because it has such obvious implications relative to this present time. Whatever the facts may have been in those far-distant days, the story itself provides an analogy for us which emphasizes our particular responsibility in these days. This responsibility is not restricted to us here present, but there is a question as to how many have really recognized the reality of it as this applies to their own living now.
We noted this morning [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-ark-made-flesh-martin-cecil-22-1980.html] how the flood came and brought considerable changes to the earth and to those who remained in the earth. We see considerable changes occurring now in the world, changes which are occurring because of some very particular cause. The cause of old was water falling from on high and obliterating the earth as it then was. Whatever that occurrence may have been, human beings today could well learn something from it. We ourselves have seen something and have become aware of a spiritual responsibility which is capable of being accepted by those who are willing to do so. Perhaps it might be profitable to read this story of old and see how it applies, and perhaps more clearly what the responsibility is. You will recall that this was a time when men began to multiply on the face of the earth; it seems that this is such a time.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
This story is told in a way which has tended to be translated in religious terms rather than being seen for what it is. The behavior of human beings produces effects. We have plenty of effects in these days to observe—many of them might be called shocking. They have been produced by people. The ways of human beings, their attitudes, their motivations, are all involved in this, and the world is now the way it is. As we have often noted, and had personal experience in the field also, there is a tendency for everyone to blame everybody else. This is part of the state in which human beings exist. Criticism and blame are popular attitudes. Somehow it seems to be imagined that by indulging in this, what is wrong will be corrected. But such attitudes are a part of the state in which human beings exist, bringing forth behavior of all kinds which in turn produces the world in which human beings live. That is what is being said here.
“And God saw”—anyone with any clear vision can see—“that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Most people think of themselves as being good. The wickedness is over there somewhere and someone else is blamed. If there is anyone to blame it is the one whom each individual speaks of as “me.” Until there is that factual attitude taken no possible change on earth could come about. The state of human beings is locked into this which is described here most accurately as the wickedness of man. It was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Here is a description of the state of human consciousness, whether the person thinks of his own state as being good or bad. This is what is being described; and it is the state just as surely today as it was then—a sorry state of affairs.
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” What a sad condition: the earth being destroyed by human beings who are intent upon their own desires and designs. The effects arise. In this instance it was a flood of water, very destructive for most people apparently. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” It was because of Noah in this story that everything was not obliterated from the face of the earth.
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” He was perfect in his generations, in what was brought forth by reason of the quality of his character and the quality of his living. He was deemed perfect, something which most human beings deny as being possible, because it is not possible if one is wicked and every imagination of the thoughts of one’s heart is only evil continually. It is a deliberate choice on the part of human beings, and the world suffers in consequence and hovers on the brink of destruction. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and it was because of Noah that the destruction was not utter. We don’t have to use much imagination these days to see the possibility of utter destruction. But there is something happening in the consciousness of human beings which is analogous to the flood—a different kind of flood. There is this which is pouring into the consciousness of human beings everywhere, mankind as a whole, impelling them to their intensified destructive endeavors. Sometimes those destructive endeavors are thought of as being constructive. “We have to do this to prevent that; we have to be destructive in this way in order that we are not totally destroyed in some other way.” There is a scramble to save this pitiful state of affairs on earth.
I think it is rather apparent that there is in motion already this flood which inevitably destroys, as the original one did, utterly, unless there is what is represented in this story by Noah: One Who Walks With God, [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/walks-with-god.html] one who walks in attunement with the Spirit of God, so that the Spirit of God may find expression in that one’s life. Noah is representative of many, rightly. Always there needs to be a starting point of some kind, and it was Noah’s generation that allowed for the Ark to be built, the Ark which was saved by reason of the flood. We see the same thing occurring in these days. There is a flood. Because it is not of material substance it is not generally recognized as such, but nevertheless it is there. It is a flood in the consciousness of mankind, which is destructive as long as the prior state persists—a state which is characterized by blame and criticism; resentment, hate, anger, all the qualities which characterize human nature. This is the wickedness. Human nature itself is the wickedness, and who can escape human nature? The general view is that we are stuck with it, but there is something else.
It is said of Noah that he Walked With God; he didn’t walk after the dictates of his human nature. Recognizing these things, we accept the responsibility of Walking With God, of being compelled by the Spirit of God rather than by the usual motivations which arise in human nature. We have seen these things clearly enough, but it is not just a matter of seeing them; it is a matter of Walking With God. It is a matter of permitting this right expression in our own living so that the government of the world is no longer dominant in experience. Rising up, we may recognize that there is something more to us than earthly heredity. Seeing this, we have concerned ourselves with what is illustrated by Noah. This is a portrayal that is contained in the Old Testament; there is a portrayal contained in the New Testament, many other portrayals in many places, opening the door to a new experience, so that something may be brought into the world which has not been here for a long time.
The Ark needs to be built. This Ark was built according to certain measurements, certain substance, of which Noah became aware. It was thought of as being foolish at the time. There is a design for the Ark which is essential in these days; and by the way it is not a spaceship; it is not, certainly, a fallout shelter. Even in the days of the original Ark, the design of it was first of all brought to the consciousness of Noah. What was required already existed; but it required someone to encompass an understanding of it so that what already existed could be brought forth in form. And so it is now. There is what already exists. Human beings are apparently totally oblivious of this in the general sense.
There is a design, there is a way. But how could this way be known, how could it be experienced, if one is all wrapped up in the usual human nature state based in the usual human nature motivations? Nothing else can be known but that; a person is full of that, and being full of that the results of that are reflected in the environment, and the world is the way it is. Unless a change comes in the realm of human consciousness there is no expectation of anything else but destruction: as you sow, so you reap. As humanity sows, so does humanity reap. We are all part of humanity. We all have a responsibility therefore with respect to the sowing. There is a need then for the sowing of a creative harvest, the harvest that comes down from God out of heaven, the harvest that already exists, the seed of which already exists in the invisible sense but of which human beings are unaware because of their total involvement in what is describable as the human nature state. They cannot see anything else. Everything is looked at in those terms. In that state there are sincere people no doubt who are trying to do the best they know how to prevent this awful slide into oblivion that is obviously occurring. But nothing that anyone does prevents the downward motion. How can this awful state be brought into some sort of order? Great effort is put into this by many people but the confusion only gets worse, the destructiveness becomes more widespread. It is something that every individual on the face of the earth knows something about.
But it is possible to find grace in the eyes of the Lord if anyone is interested. According to this story it only took one man and his generations to make it possible for the continued existence of life on earth—one man who assumed that responsibility. Of course one has to see this before one is likely to do anything about it, but even seeing it, there are not too many who are willing to do anything about it. The very moment one begins to see what is required one has the responsibility, whether one likes it or not, to allow what has heretofore been invisible to take visible form in expression because one lives on earth. And so the Ark is built, built of human flesh. It is built according to a very particular design, a design which nobody knows. Isn’t that fortunate? Most people think they know what is required. If they gave up thinking they know what is required it would seem to be impossible to go on living—a recognition that the human nature way is utterly and absolutely futile and ends in disaster. Every generation has proved it out and now the whole of mankind is in jeopardy.
Who has what it takes to face the issue and to accept the responsibility in the quality of one’s own living, in one’s own character?—a character which begins to be a means by which the Lord, the true creative process, can bring forth the Ark, which we have designated by reference to the Word, the Word which was in the beginning with God, the Word which is God. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/the-grace-van-duzen-may-20-1987-world.html] There are those of course who say that this book is the Word, the Bible is the Word. Well some words here can have some meaning; we are looking at some this evening; but why do they have meaning? Because there is someone on hand who begins to see what they mean. You can't get the meaning out of these words simply by studying them. The meaning comes because of one’s own expression of living. If that is of the quality of the Spirit of God then there is meaning, and meaning begins to be transmitted to everything in the expression of life. If the world has become a meaningless place, which it certainly has—a completely meaningless insane asylum—if it has become a meaningless place, how is it going to be restored to meaning? Because there is someone on hand who gives it meaning.
The meaning comes down from God out of heaven into the earth. That is the way it works. So we have the opportunity, as Noah did, to give meaning. The meaning that is essential now is to provide a means by which what is occurring may prove to be creative rather than totally destructive. This is done by those who Walk With God, not in theory, not on the basis of some belief, but in fact, in actual experience, so that what is of God may find expression in the circumstances exactly the way they are. We all have our circumstances. They are brought to us. We don’t have to go out and find them. Circumstances are brought to us every day. What do we do with them? Become embroiled in them, struggling with them, worrying about them? Or do we offer into those circumstances what we are here to offer?
We may be aware that whatever comes to us is very similar to what is coming to millions of other people in the world. We are not so exceptional in that regard. The circumstances come, exactly the way they should come, for each one to handle that circumstance correctly. And yet judgment is usually the first thing that enters into consciousness with respect to something, isn’t it? “Oh, this shouldn’t be happening.” Well whether it should or shouldn’t, it is! It is happening. That is the thing to handle then. There is nothing else to handle rightly on the basis of the expression of the Spirit of God, in that quality of character. When that begins to be done, something is being brought into the world of right cause.
Someone said that one with God is a majority. It may happen to be true, you know, that when there is that quality of living on earth so that circumstances are handled with this attitude, something is being brought into the world that wasn’t there before and it is going to have an effect. We are here to let just that happen. And something begins to be built: a flesh body of some kind, an Ark, [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-martin-exeter-may-6-1984-those-who.html] a living Ark which is lifted up by reason of what is happening in the world. Most people are trying to stop what is happening in the world—“Don’t let it happen.” Why? “Because it’s going to clobber me, because I’m going to suffer, and other people are going to suffer too. Stop what is happening in the world.” Why? Let it happen, but make very sure that a cause is provided on earth which will allow the ultimate happening to be creative, rather than utterly destructive if nothing is offered.
We have such a wonderful field in which to operate, a field of beautiful circumstances. Don’t judge them. Don’t say, “Well I don’t like that circumstance.” Who cares whether you like it or not? It’s there. How are you going to behave relative to that circumstance? In a manner that is upright and perfect or, how shall we put it, downright and imperfect?—in other words underneath the circumstance: “Oh I don’t like this circumstance. It’s pushing me around. Poor me. Help me.” What puny people! One with the Lord is a majority. Okay, in that attitude, in that spirit, with that quality of character, anything can be handled as it should be handled, but not in reaction to the circumstance. It doesn’t produce resentment, it doesn’t engender worry; it is just simply handled in the power and Spirit of the Living God. This is possible to anyone who accepts the challenge and is willing to let it happen. Unless there are those who are so willing it could be said that destruction is inevitable for everyone; it’s on the way.
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” How about someone else? How about us, for instance? How about anyone who so chooses to let his generations in living be perfect because they are motivated by the Spirit of God and not by reactionary human nature, which is always bothered about something? Peace only comes because there is a peaceful person and because that peaceful person brings peace. It doesn’t come by human nature manipulations, ever.
So we share the recognition of spiritual responsibility, which is the only kind of responsibility that bears creative fruit. Then the creative fruit is brought forth; the right seed is sown; the right harvest comes. It is absolutely sure. We should be convinced, incidentally, about all this because when the wrong thing is done the wrong harvest puts in an appearance; we don’t like it. It’s doing it all the time; the Law works. Let what is right be done, and behold, the world is re-created. This is not to say that there is not likely to be considerable destruction in the process, because so precious few people are willing to let it happen. Anyone who is struggling with his circumstances is unwilling to let happen what should happen, and there is an endeavor to grasp things so as to keep the control, keep things in order, “so that I don’t lose my health, or I don’t lose my money, or I don’t lose whatever it is.” Why not? There is a lot to be lost. At least human beings think it is a lot. It isn’t very much, really. How much more there is to be experienced of the fulness and the richness and the beauty and the glory which is already present, waiting to come forth when someone is on hand to let it happen. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” That is the fact of the matter. Let us let that fact be revealed because of our own quality of living moment by moment by moment.
Let us be willing to accept the responsibility which was portrayed so beautifully in this story by Noah. Then the Ark begins to be built, because something is being generated; there is a generation. We know there is a generation. It has brought us and many more together because there has been a generation; not because it is a matter of going around beating the bushes and getting people out. No! Because there is a willingness on the part of some, at least, to recognize the real quality and nature of the Word which may be given expression in words. But it is also given expression in every way that we live, when we are willing to let it happen. It is there, waiting to come forth, but we have so many structured states inside ourselves which we are unwilling to relinquish, so that it can’t get out. And where there isn’t this right cause, how can there be the right effect?
So we see our responsibility, spiritually speaking, and I’m sure that if we have integrity we are willing to accept it and to use all that comes to us rightly—that is righteousness, incidentally—use it rightly to the glory of God for the fulfilment of the true purposes of being, the reason why there is an earth, the reason why there are human beings on earth. This is an unknown quantity at the moment but it is ready to be known when there are those who are willing to know it.
We come to our hour of meditation on Saturday evening, September 12th, 1953. Tomorrow is the 13th day of September, and the beginning of our Anniversary Meditation. I suppose most, if not all of you, know that September 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th are of particular significance to us, and I wish to begin to introduce that vibratory pattern tonight. I trust that it will be possible to work out our meditations through this period with particular meaningfulness. It is my suggestion, if it is pleasing to—of course, we will have our regular services tomorrow and Sunday—but in view of these things, if it is pleasing to you, or for those of you to whom it is pleasing, we will have an hour of Meditation Monday evening, Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening. Perhaps we might, for a moment, consider the reasons for this. It marks the beginning, or a recognition of the beginning, of this Ministry in authorized, ordained function on earth. I had been working in a spirit of dedication to service to mankind at an earlier date, beginning in 1929, but it was in 1932 that the ordained pattern of my Ministry began.
You know something of what it is to walk in the valley of the shadow where the mind seeks to find answers to seemingly insoluble questions. You know what it is to feel emotional stress, turmoil, questioning of spirit, internal restlessness, a seeking. Very often this inner seeking is not properly translated in consciousness and it causes human beings to do things which they ought not to do. However, I know what it is to go through such seeking and searching for a long period of time. The manifestation of it in relationship to myself was in early youth. I could talk here for hours telling you something of the history of that outworking, but, actually, I think it is not of too much importance. You, yourselves, have had some background natural to yourselves in seeking, and you are here.
But, in that pattern of seeking, searching, and working, in my own case the problem seemed to be an impossible one over a period of a good many years. And finally something worked out on September 13th—in the early morning, about four o' clock. And the next step was carried out on the 14th, also early in the morning, and on the 15th. And September 16th, 1932, marked the beginning of my ordained Ministry on earth in which, or at which time, my outer mind had an awareness, a consciousness, of the task that was before me, a seemingly impossible task, because at that time I was a comparatively young man—not too terribly old yet, perhaps. But I was unknown. What little I had been able to achieve in the world in an outer sense had been wiped out in the early stages of the depression. Without friends, without backing, utterly unknown, even in the city where I had this experience, which was in Nashville, Tennessee. No friends, no one to turn to, no one, seemingly, to help. And yet, the beginning had to be made.
I could talk to you for hours about the steps that have worked out in that interval since. If any of you think you have had any experience in meeting pressures and difficult circumstances, holding the line, remaining true to the Calling, when everything looks to be utterly impossible—well, I know something about it too. But, now, it is 1953. Twenty-one years ago, tomorrow morning, that step by which my outer consciousness began to have a true vision and realization of the reality of the program was taken, something that came in answer to a restlessness of soul, a seeking and a searching over many, many years. And in that period of time I had sought in vain to find a church, or philosophy, or a leader. I was looking for someone whom I could accept as a leader. And I searched diligently. A few times I thought I was beginning to find such a person. But in spite of all the reading, all the searching, all the listening, I could not find that leader anywhere. I was not seeking to be a leader. I was seeking for a leader. But, finally, in that experience which unfolded, beginning on September 13th in the long ago, twenty-one years ago, I came face-to-face with the terrible awareness, the knowledge, that I had the responsibility of being the leader for whom I sought, for whom I had been seeking.
Can you imagine something of that, of what it would be to be Called of the LORD and given the awareness, given the understanding, the consciousness, yet to be utterly unknown in the world, to have no resources, no money, no material possessions, nothing—for whatever I had had of material possessions had been wiped out in the early depression period—and to be informed that I had the responsibility of finding the people in the world who would work with me, carrying the pattern forward, of being the leader for others.
You know, I don't look on it particularly as a test. And yet, the human mind tended to search out excuses, or reasons, for turning aside. And yet, there came that Divine Command—a Divine Commission. And, instead of refusing it or saying, “LORD, I can't do it,” I took the attitude that if the LORD asked me to do it, then the LORD would make it possible for me to do it. I realized that any questioning attitude on my part would, in fact, be, not an evidence of humility, but simply a questioning of God, and that if that Divine Commission belonged to me, if God chose to give it to me, then it was for me to accept it and move forward.
I think this twenty-first Anniversary of the beginning of this Ministry has particular significance. It means that there have been three cycles of seven years each, and that tonight the third cycle of seven years comes to a close. Tonight, or tomorrow morning, at about four o'clock, we have the beginning of a new cycle. What does it mean to us? What can it mean to us? You have been drawn out of the world pattern to share this hour tonight. You have been consciously working with me for varying periods of time. But, twenty-one years of Ministry, and we have achieved this much. There have been times when I was hard pressed and difficulties were on every hand, when there was a temptation to think that it was a very slow forward movement, a slow development—and I feel that it could have been more rapid. But we have sought in every way possible to make it a sound development, not a mushroom growth but an oak-tree growth, so that it would be sound in every part, correct and right, and even though the growth might be slow it should be sure.
And when my mind has been tempted to feel that perhaps I would never find those who would hold steady and carry through and do a job and share a deep and constant dedication to our KING, I have been caused to remember our Master on earth. He, after three and a half years of public Ministry, meeting the final crisis, was in a circumstance where only one man and three women stood by. The rest followed afar off or were gone. I have been reminded many, many times that I have had more real love and loyalty shown to me in these twenty-one years than our Master was privileged to know while He walked among men. There have been men and women, who, with more constancy of devotion, have served with me than there were who served with Him. Always, no matter how difficult things might seem at the moment, I have been able to look back and recognize that if I have had difficulties in my Ministry there were greater difficulties in our Master's Ministry. Human beings have been more quick to understand what I have presented than they were to understand what He presented. More human beings have shown a willingness to enter into a selfless Ministry with me than were willing to enter into a selfless Ministry with our LORD and Master Himself when He was on earth.
Regardless of the difficulties, I have been in the position of recognizing that our situation has been better every step of the way than it was with Him. And, that being so, I have never had any reason for complaint. Sometimes those who served with me thought they had reason for complaint, but I have never had any reason for complaint to God. And, also, it has seemed to me that if the pattern could work out on a basis that let me have seven years to His one to achieve a goal, I would have a reasonable assurance of getting it done. Three and a half years our Master ministered. I am not suggesting that in three and a half more years from now my Ministry will necessarily come to an end. I am pointing out that it needs to carry through to Victory. This completes twenty-one years, or that which corresponds to the first three years. We have a half a year left, correlating with the three and one half years, the actual length of time our Master ministered.
Now, there may be some difficulties in the interval. I am not suggesting that there will not be. But, that will, without question, be a crisis period, the half a year remaining, or the next three and a half years, the first half of the fourth seven-year cycle. I am not going to undertake to prognosticate as to what will take place. That is not the point. The point is that unless you, here, and all those who are serving with us in the field, share a deeper dedication with me than we have yet had, we are not going to get the job done. This Anniversary period must take on tremendous significance to you. Unless I can sell that Truth, that fact, we are going to be at a tremendous disadvantage in the days to come, and we will be flirting with failure. I, for one, do not like failure. I have had to face up to many things that looked like failure. But even that which is a temporary failure is not necessarily permanent unless we make it so.
I do not like failure. I do not like to admit that I have failed with any individual, with any human being. I have had to accept that on many occasions. I have seen so many people turn away. I have had to face the fact that, regardless of whatever may have been wrong with them, I failed to sell them on the idea of the Truth. I failed to inspire them to an acceptance of the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yes, I have had to face up to many failures. But I don't like failure, with respect to individuals, or with respect to circumstances, or anything else. We are interested in Victory, and success. We are interested in successfully discharging our responsibilities and fulfilling our Commission; for the moment you really accept responsibility in Ministry with me, you share, to some degree at least, my Commission, because the Commission that was given to me, individually, twenty-one years ago was not limited to me. It was something in which any number of men and women could share, and it was my job to find men and women in the world who were willing to start sharing the responsibilities of that Commission.
On this twenty-first Anniversary of our Ministry I would like very much, according to your response, to let you really share a deeper vision and understanding, not just of the Commission, but of that which is essential to the fulfilling of the Commission. I cannot do it alone, nor can you. It is only as we work together that it can be done under God. And so, if this twenty-first Anniversary of our Ministry means to us what it should we will be moving into this New Cycle more effectively than we have ever functioned before. And tomorrow, and in the remainder of this Anniversary period, I trust that I shall have the privilege of considering at least part of the factors which are involved.
I wonder—do you know what it is to be so absolutely hungry and thirsty for the Truth that it overshadows everything else—that everything else becomes secondary, that anything else that comes into mind is seen in relationship to that one thing, meditating upon it? Have you ever risen early in the morning to meditate upon it? Have you ever awakened in the night and meditated upon it? Have you ever gone to sleep at night with your mind full of it? Has it been your thought on arising, and as you work through the day, and as you come to the evening hour?—something that absolutely fills your consciousness with an insatiable hunger, with thirst for the Water of Truth. It was something of that which allowed me, in the outer sense, to reach the point of that experience that you have shared the blessings of this Ministry.
You do not have to do what I did. I am not suggesting that. It is not necessary. But it is necessary that these days of the Anniversary period should be dedicated to a deep and constant meditation upon the things of God, a searching for a true centering in polarity, a hunger for God's Love, a thirst for God's Truth. And if you would do your part toward being certain that this Ministry does accomplish that to which God has ordained it, if you would have your part in it, then you need, during the days of this Anniversary, to experience a deep and abiding sense of dedication to the responsibilities and the Calling of that Commission. And I would do what I can, during this period, to help you to realize more of what the Commission is, and what it means.
Our presence here must have a real purpose. If I can sell you on that idea, that fact, that Truth, so that it burns deep into your consciousness, there is not any question but what we will get the job done. In my own mind there is no question but what the job will be done. I trust with your help, for we need the help of each and everyone, and there is room for you and a thousand more whom you represent, and ten thousand more than that, and on and on. There is need for many who are not here. Hundreds and thousands who should be sharing in the Program are gone. They should be here and they are not. We cannot waste time in vain regret, but we must do our part, and it takes a lot of filling in for those who are not here who should have been, who could have been, right here. If we function effectively and correctly, there will be others come in to share the work which must be done, to the Glory of our KING and to the Blessing of the children of men.
Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for those here gathered and for all who are with us in Spirit, that all who will may be drawn with the irresistible cords of Thy Love to stand upon the Rock Eternal, yielding to the Spirit of Thy Truth and becoming channels for the Spirit of Thy Life, that they may share the Divine Commission and accomplish that whereunto they are sent. I thank Thee, Father, for the privilege of service which Thou hast granted me on earth, for all the multitude of Thy Blessings bestowed upon me, for the Love and the friendship and the loyalty of those who serve with me, that we may, in moving forward, so live that Thy Ministry on earth may increase and carry Rich Blessings to all who will receive, IN the Christ. AUM-en.
If we take time to consider the past, we do it simply because of its relevance to the present. If I have recently been speaking of the First and Second Sacred Schools, this had little to do with history as such, but rather with the refocalization of the truth relating to the First and Second Sacred Schools at this present time, in our immediate experience. The same is true if I have spoken more particularly of the Master when He was on earth in the form of Jesus, for what He did is now relevant to us and to the whole world.
In a special way, we who have participated in the cycle of the Third Sacred School have been very much blessed—we have found ourselves in a protected situation. When the physical plane approach was made, at the time of the children of Israel, there was a direct confrontation at that level with many other people who were functioning at that level. There was, necessarily, something of a collision in consequence, which was the way it should have been at that time; but it engendered a great deal of violence and stress. Likewise at the time of the initiation of the Second Sacred School; this was at the mental level, where human beings are prone to disport themselves, and so again there was confrontation.
But the Spiritual Expression Plane approach, the Third Plane approach, is something of which material man knows virtually nothing, so there has been very little direct confrontation. Consequently there has been the opportunity to allow the development of what has emerged in this protected circumstance. We have been able to go about our business without excessive interference, because what we were doing didn't seem as though it amounted to very much, at least in the eyes of material man—and we are, or should be, delighted to have it that way. We begin to know what it amounts to, but those who make the approach from the material standpoint haven't a clue.
From time to time there have been those associated with our ministry who wanted to jump into some sort of a confrontation, get into an argument, for instance. Nobody ever really wins an argument, any more than anyone wins a physical battle; the war goes on in either case. We are not in the least interested in involving ourselves in such antics, because they lead nowhere. This is the realm of material man divorced from spiritual man. It is the realm that was described as relating to the great red dragon in the Book of Revelation. At the time when this character was mentioned, there was first indication of the presence of a woman clothed with the sun, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars and the moon was under her feet, and she was in the process of bringing forth a man child. The great red dragon was on hand to devour the child as soon as it was born; however, in this instance, he didn't succeed. It is through the woman that the reappearance of spiritual nan on earth is made possible. It doesn't all happen at once.
There is, as we recognize in all creative outworkings, a cycle involved. We know something of this in our own experience individually speaking, and also we are aware of its significance collectively speaking. The woman, through whom this reappearance of spiritual man is made possible, was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into her place in the wilderness for a time, times and half a time. There she was nourished and protected, while the creative cycle continued to unfold. We can see this as relating to what has occurred and is occurring within the range of our own experience. I have already mentioned the protection that has been present by reason of the Spiritual Expression Plane approach. The two wings of the great eagle signify something in this regard: the ability to function at the level of the Spiritual Expression Plane.
Because the dragon didn't pay too much attention to what seemed to him to be of no particular moment, the woman has been safe in the wilderness, in her place, and we know that has been so. It is said that he did cast out a flood of water to sweep the woman away but the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood. Now it's certainly true that there has been a tremendous multiplication of all kinds of “isms,” ideas of every sort, espoused by many people relative to what they consider to be the truth, organizations on every hand, the dragon's idea being that if the truth should put in an appearance it would be lost in this shuffle. Well, again, we had no objection to that; it provided protective covering, shall we say. But the truth prevails, the woman was safe; and no matter how much verbiage has been poured out all over the place, it has made no difference to what it is that we are about. And we have been in position to go quietly about our business, protected in the wilderness of the world, in our particular place for a time, times and half a time.
So we have the movement relative to the first Three Sacred Schools and half of the Fourth: time, times and half a time. Protection was only needed for this period, because material man has no ability to do anything beyond the earth or the realm of material experience. He is, in fact, limited to the first two planes. He is very active there—self-active, we call it, physically and mentally—very busy, very occupied with all his plans and programs. These plans and programs operate on the basis of what may be called evil spirits. The principal two, we have noted, are fear and greed. As long as human beings can be caused to jump because they are afraid or because they are trying to obtain some kind of a reward, then the control is in the hands of what is portrayed by the great red dragon.
The realm of control is symbolized by the heaven. In the true state control on earth proceeds out of the heaven, the true heaven. The way material man has worked it he has developed a heaven of his own, which relates to the Spiritual Expression Plane level of consciousness, but on the basis of the absence of the true expression of spiritual man. What is expressed, or has been expressed on that level, has been of the nature of the evil spirits of which I have spoken, and human beings are constantly governed by demons in this sense, and there is certainly the need for a job of exorcismhere. But exorcism is not a matter of getting into a battle with the devil. Anyone who gets into a battle with the devil will be defeated by the devil.
The one thing he can't stand is to be ignored. If you start to ignore him you might anticipate quite a clamor to get your attention, and he gets your attention through these ill spirits. All of them are based in the spirit of shame, because material man is ashamed, whether he realizes it consciously or not, by reason of his state of miserable isolation. He knows deep down inside of his failure; he tries to hide it, and I suppose the magnificence of this present so-called civilization is, seemingly, the success he has had in hiding his shame. But underneath it all he is still ashamed, and out of shame spring all the other evil spirits, which constantly push human beings this way and that, governed by their emotional reactions to the circumstances around them, particularly toward other people. Now, as long as they can be governed this way the great red dragon is in control, from the standpoint of the heaven which he has established, the place of control which he has established.
Of course, there are those who think of themselves as being intelligent human beings, intelligent material men and women, who deliberately make use of human weakness to govern. Perhaps, in the case of many of the politicians, for instance, who are rather low in the ladder of the hierarchy of government in the world, they don't realize what they are doing; but when a campaign is in progress we begin to find all kinds of promises being made as to what this person or that person is going to do, or this party or that party, to make it so nice for everybody. Well, this relates to greed on the one hand, and “If you don't let us go to work you well may be afraid of what's going to happen,” on the other. And, of course, the politicians are not the only ones who work it this way—there is what may be called spiritual wickedness in high places—human beings are easily manipulated and they go cheerfully to their own doom, imagining that they are really acting on the basis of their own independent thought. Never! There is no such thing as independent thought insofar as material man is concerned; it's all contained in the material box and boxed in on every side.
So we certainly do not look for solutions from any aspect or level of the material state. All this is going on—we see it on every hand—and we find ourselves probably still touched in various ways by what is going on. We are invited to respond to these things. In fact, if we don't, we are considered to be worthless; we must, after all, have an opinion about all the current issues. Why would we have to have an opinion about them? They mean nothing; they are all part of the material state which is in the process of disintegration, and we shouldn't be too much concerned with trying to patch it up. On the other hand, we are not going to become belligerent and try to knock it down; there's no need; it's going to pass away anyhow.
So, the woman, the means by which spiritual man appears once again in material form on earth, is protected for the period of time necessary to allow spiritual man to appear adequately in material form once again. And in that process, of course, the great red dragon finds himself at a disadvantage, because he can only control those who are afraid of him, for one thing, and, for another, hope, by following his lead, to get something out of it. If there are those who cannot be fooled in this regard and who are not afraid regardless of what happens, then he has lost his control; and if he has lost his control he has been put out of heaven. We see something of this sort happening in the world, because there are those who are beginning to appear on earth who are not governed by the things which govern most people, who are not governed by the carrot syndrome nor by the whip syndrome.
We have had a place apart in order to develop the capacity to accept a different sort of government, and all this has been going on right under the nose of the great red dragon, because he doesn't really know very much about the true use, the right use, that is applicable in the Spiritual Expression Plane level of being. He knows something about his own activities relative to the absence of spiritual man—in other words in the gendering of ill spirits in people. So, he is cast out of heaven to the extent that the new true controlis governing in the lives of some human beings. This, of course, relates to the beginnings of the appearance of spiritual man in material form. The shift of identity from material man to spiritual man comes in the time, times and half a time. It comes by reason of emergence out of the tomb, or the womb as it proves to be, into the Gardenwhich is the beginning experience of the Fourth Sacred School.
The Fourth Sacred School relates to spiritual man. Only spiritual man is a graduate in the Fourth Sacred School; by no means can material man get in there. Therefore, obviously, as long as one has merely a material man identity one is bound to be out. It is only as there is a spiritual man identity that one finds oneself in. It isn't really a matter of graduating; it is simply a matter of being. So, the great red dragon is cast out of his heaven into the earth—that is, the physical and mental levels of material man—and he throws a good deal of weight around at those levels; he still does. We see an increasing intensity in this regard, more violence. Why? It was said, “because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” He's in a bind, but the majority of people don't realize the extent of the bind they're in, apparently; or they won't face it. I think a great many people know they're in a bind, but they still have the idea that the great red dragon is going to get them out by using what seems to be available at the physical and mental levels. Material man is yet going to triumph, he thinks! Well, quite a few people have become disillusioned concerning this; presumably you may be amongst them; and to the extent that you have experienced a new identity, in other words a new control in your living, you know that the dragon “hath but a short time.”
Spiritual man begins to appear in material form. In the initial stages there is an inadequate expression and evidence of spiritual man, but if there is anything appearing we begin to realize that he's there. It is the reemergence of spiritual man in material form that has been called the second coming of Christ. It is the coming of the Lamb, the emergence in spiritual expression, the evidence of the presence of spiritual man in material form. Now, this is something which relates to individual experience, of course, but it is also something that is working out on the larger scale. We have an awareness of participating in something which includes many others; there are many others with us who also have a consciousness of being included. But we also see there are vastly more who are not conscious of being included, and yet, in fact, they are. They are but don't yet know it. There was a time when we were and didn't yet know it. Somewhere along the way we approached time, times and half a time; we began to make an approach to the half a time anyway, an approach into the experience of a new identity. What was really happening, of course, was that the veil was thinningout and we were becoming aware of what was already the truth—that spiritual man is present.
How many millions of human beings down through the ages have gone on happily through what they called life, under the shadow of death, under the veil, with no awareness of spiritual being! It all seemed so futile (as it was) and so tragic (as it seemed to be) but all the time the truth was present, spiritual man was there, but, insofar as the awareness of one who trudged below the veil, very often completely unknown. Sometimes there were glimpses, some people had faith, some felt there must be something; but they didn't know. Material man's existence of not knowing is bound to be misery. What a wonder in heaven when we begin to know, when we begin to awaken to the spiritual man identity—I Am.
Material man has only existed because spiritual man was present, but that existence has been such a limited thing, such a distorted thing, and what seemed to be so real, vivid, close, was actually unreal. To what extent do you have the experience yet of material things emphasizing themselves as being the vivid reality? There is a change of consciousness necessary, isn't there, where the treasures are laid up in heaven and the vivid reality is there. When the vivid reality is there, that is the experience of spiritual man; but as long as the vivid reality is in the earth, that is the experience of material man divorced from spiritual man. But if you have the experience of spiritual man, material man is also present. There have been those, of course, who have thought that they could only have the experience of spiritual man by disposing of material man. That is not what is required, obviously. There is rightly the experience of spiritual man while material man is still present; and when the experience is of spiritual man, material man reflects spiritual man, so there is spiritual man on earth in material form, and that is MAN, that is the reality of MAN—that is Man the living soul.
Now all this has been unfolding in the creative cycle. We have begun to be aware of that unfoldment; we begin to see it and we begin to understand something with respect to it. To understand we don't have to go plunging back into the earth, into the mental level of being, as though that was the only way that anyone could understand anything. There is no understanding there in material man, in actual fact, just a stuffing of knowledge lacking completely any understanding. Who knows what's going on? There is something going on, as we recognize, far beyond what material man supposes. All his efforts to make the world tick are proving to be futile; the clock's running down; so, he feels that something desperate is happening but he doesn't know exactly what and he struggles to prevent it from happening. But we begin to see what it is that is happening beyond the scope of material man's vision. And to the extent that we do see something beyond that, that is to that extent the experience of spiritual man.
Let's be true to that. Don't deny it, and don't return to the vomit of material man; that is, material man divorced, separate from spiritual man. There is nothing wrong with material man in oneness with spiritual man, but the only basis of that oneness is for material man to yield to spiritual man. That's the only way it works. In an hour when you think not, the Lord comes, the experience of spiritual man reappears. Spiritual man does what thinking is necessary in the true state. The material facilities may be used to this end, but it's still spiritual man on the job; material man follows whithersoever he goeth, and that seems a condition worse than death to material man. What a very peculiar idea! To share the freedom of spiritual man is thought to be a fate worse than death; otherwise he wouldn't have insisted upon dying all this time.
So, in the larger sense, we see the great red dragon being cast out of heaven into the earth. And he has been overcome by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb? Spiritual man in spiritual expression through material man. That is the evidence of the Life of the Lamb, and it is that that casts the dragon out of his heaven—bang! He lands up in the earth because he can no longer control. As long as he can control you by putting a material squeeze on you, then he has you in his pocket; and in his pocket you're not free, although he offers a little length of rope, you know, before yanking you back. So people delude themselves. But we see him being cast out into the earth, and we see his violent ways increasing everywhere. We see madness on every hand, an irrational state everywhere—the great red dragon raising hell because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And that time is shortened for the elect's sake—that is, because of those who re-experience the state of spiritual man in material form. Then dominion is where it belongs and material man, separate from spiritual man, eliminates himself. No battle is required on the part of spiritual man; he simply stands by while the cycle works itself out, both in its descending aspect and in its ascending aspect, and behold, all things are made new.
How richly blessed we have been, and still are, to be so enfolded in the protective care that is natural to the experience in the Holy Place, at the Spiritual Expression Plane level of being. As long as we remain in the Holy Place, we may hear the dragon going about outside, but he can't get in. The only way he can get at us is by enticing us out of the Holy Place, and he will extend some blandishments, no doubt, of various kinds. You still have the experience of that, I am sure, occasionally. But we may abide under the Shadow of the Almighty rather than under the shadow of death. Under the Shadow of the Almighty we are identified as spiritual man; under the shadow of death we are identified as material man divorced from spiritual man. And this is the way it is. We begin to know. We begin to understand. Let us move with assurance in the creative cycle which unfolds so naturally and so easily under the hand of the LORD.
